12 January 2014

Happy Home Maker: My Home Tour!

Friends, I was so nervous to show you my home today. Every time the opportunity came up for me to share my own home I shied away from it. I have a secret, as much as it hurts my womanly sensibilities to say it, I'm not the best housekeeper. I mean, I'm ok, my house is not a pigsty or anything but it's far from perfection.

But when I started thinking about sharing my home with you all, I thought, hey! This series is not about perfection. It's not about having a magazine worthy home (though some houses featured could certainly have passed for it), this series is about making a home. It's about sharing our homes and sharing our lives.

I hope you'll enjoy seeing a little piece of my life today.

My husband bought our house just a shy 4 months into our dating relationship. I was actually away at the time on a conference in the Bahamas (boo hoo ;) ) and was shocked to find an email from my beau one day stating simply 'I bought a house today', no particulars at all!! Umm wha? He moved into the house himself and boarded rooms to 3 other guys (even my brother for a short time).

About a month before we got married Bob began renovating the house to become two apartments, one to rent and one for us, we got the big kitchen/small bedroom end of the deal which I was happy with :). After we got married I moved in and slowly began creating a space that would work for both of us. There were many chats about whether or not guns, flashlights and random camping gear make appropriate wall decorations, and in the end I think we came up with something we are both happy with...

Our Gallery wall, always changing. The hanging pictures are some of my ancestors and two shots of my childhood home, in different eras, which had been in my family for 200 years

We spend the majority of our time, like most families I guess, in the living room. There are lots of handmade touches here and it's so cozy with the wood stove. Bob made me a gorgeous mantle from old wood from his great grandfathers barn, and I try to decorate it seasonally, which I love. My gallery wall is a work in progress and I'm always adding things and changing things around. The hearth was our first project together and it's a really special memory for me, don't you just love joint projects!

Recently Bob made me a little craft corner. I make and sell button earring at a local store here and I really needed a place to work, and also to do all the other crafts I love! He stole gave me this desk which was his moms and I love it!

Bob's handcrafted mantle, a bit of my bottle 'collection', and my craft corner. I hope to get a new comfy chair someday!

There are many charms to a small house, but there are also many challenges. One being the fact that we don't have any closets... Yep. So I'm always trying to find different organizing systems, as well as trying not to accumulate too many things... But it's hard ya know with babes and all. You'll also see here that Hazel doesn't have a 'room' per-say but it's more of a 'nook'. Truth be told it's actually an entry way that we blocked off... Yeeeeah. It doesn't have a door but hey, we work it! She has a curtain and when we have people over we just put her in our room and then transfer her. It works, but I am really looking forward to no longer having to tip toe around at nap time!

Coffee bar, and you can also see Hazel's 'room' peeking out there.

Our kitchen is big and has lots of space to roam. We love our coffee bar and use it so much. Bob definitely has the spiritual gift of hospitality and you'll often find him whipping up someone, anyone, an espresso with his Rok Espresso machine (best man gift ever!) I'm in the kitchen a lot and Hazel always wants to be beside mama so we moved our table from the middle of the room to the side which was a stroke of awesomeness.

Our bright kitchen. Bob picked the colors and painted it for me before I moved in, it used to be baby blue... yikes!The chalkboard is a window we replaced in the kitchen and I love that it is still in there, just a different form :)

I have always wanted to cultivate a home that was rich in love and inviting to everyone. We try to keep an open door policy (literally... We don't lock... Just kidding, I wouldn't put that on the Internet!!) and we have people over often. With Bob being a youth pastor we realize that our home and our marriage is on display and we truly desire for the fathers light to shine through our marriage and home.

Bob was having a nap after church and I needed to get my pictures so sorry he is in that one! You can also see the hearth that we made together a little more clearly and our sweet multicolored glass pane door! The last picture is pretty much the house in its 'natural' state... always with the books, my little bean.

I hope you enjoyed seeing a bit of my home! With Baby 2 coming in July we are really looking forward to renovating and taking back the whole house. Its been a blessing to rent our upstairs as it paid our mortgage these last few years but I am SO ready to have the whole house to ourselves! Plans are for April/May, so I hope I will be able to share again when that gets underway.

We have an amazing line up of ladies for the next 6 weeks so come on back next Monday!